07/03/2023
Front squats // Back squats 🏋🏻♀️
These are two of the barbell squats we do most regularly in CrossFit 💪 Both squats are great for building strength, although in slightly different ways…
Back squats; where the barbell is supported across the top of the back (not across the neck) are:
✨ the most common type of bb squat
✨ generally slightly easier for most, due to the the positioning of the bar
✨ for the majority of people, the back squat is the stronger position so can generally lift more weight 😊
Front squats are a more challenging squat for lots of people but really important if you want to build strength for Olympic lifting:
✨ they engage the quads more than a back squat
✨ they also engage the core more, as midline stability is key to keeping the torso upright
✨ front squats require decent wrist and shoulder flexibility as well as good mobility in the bottom of a squat.
✨ as the fsq position is also the catch position for a clean, building strength here is key to improving clean weights (and there are lots of fsq drills you can do to improve this) 😊
As both squats work, and use, slightly different muscle groups and have different positions, they can be used as substitutes for each other to work around injuries and limitations. For eg, I had an issue with my shoulder for most of last year which meant I couldn’t hold the bar on my back so instead I trained front squats, meaning I still got volume though my legs and didn’t have to miss out on training sessions 🙌
Top and leggings 👌
